Reality Check Chp 2
by sarascofield72
Summary: This picks up when Sara goes to Crete to save Michael's life. Season 5 Ep 7. Altered fic.


A/N This picks up when Sara goes to Crete to save Michael's life. Season 5 Ep 7. Altered fic. Warning Spoiler alert! Some likeness to the real thing with wishful changes from my imagination!

Reality Check Chapter 2

Sara arrived in Crete after a very exhausting flight. She spent most of the flight thinking. Thinking about Mike, who she left with Heather. Thinking about Michael…..Her Michael. What would he say to her? What would she say to him? Could she save his life? It sounded pretty bad according to Lincoln. God she wouldn't survive losing him twice.

As the taxi pulled up to her destination she could see Linc waiting outside the front door. She embraced him quickly and he led the way inside. She turned towards the bed upon entering the dark room to see his sleeping form and she suddenly stopped breathing. It was Michael. He lay there filthy. Injured. Still.

She regained her composure and took 3 large strides across the room towards him. Kneeling near the head of the bed, she put her hand to his face. "Hi…..I missed you", she cried shakily as she got closer to him. He shook, crying too. Tears slowly ran down his cheeks, taking her back to the infirmary and his absentee toes.

She quickly got to work, giving him IV fluids, antibiotics, a transfusion of her own blood. Whatever he needed she brought with her. Whatever he needed.

"I'm gonna make you okay".

Lincoln hovered a bit then he and a man she didn't recognize left the room after providing her with equipment she needed to help him. Lincoln was worried about his survival. The truth was that Michael was strong and she knew it. When she saw him she knew she needn't worry about that. She was worried about his mental state. What had he endured over the last 7 years? She could only imagine the forms of torture, his pain. She couldn't erase it but she would die trying.

She sat there reassuring him of the only truth that she knew.

"I'm here, I'm right here."

He drifted off again while she sat there holding his hand. She caressed his knuckles. God she loved him.

The rest of the night he continued to drift in and out of consciousness. He was weak but he managed to ask questions about Mike which she tried to answer. She showed him pictures of their son and told him that he was safe. She kept checking his vitals. He improved slowly and by the early hours of the morning as she herself weakened she realized that there was something she needed to do. He would object but she couldn't leave without doing it…..

Michael woke up to find Sara asleep, head on his chest, lying next to him in the bed. He was immediately confused. He did feel stronger somehow. Last night was somewhat of a blur. She had come because Lincoln had contacted her. He remembered the conversations last night but…..how did Sara end up in this bed?

She began to stir and suddenly she was looking up at him.

"Hey " she said

"Hey" he smiled back .

"Feeling better?" She sat up and moved closer.

He exhaled. "Yes"

He looked at her and became serious, "Sara, I look like death and I smell pretty close to it…you shouldn't be in this bed."

"Where else would I be?" she asked looking at him.

He hesitated.

She continued to stare at him expectantly and then …..she realized….

"You know, don't you? You know I'm remarried." She sat up, putting some distance between them.

"Sara…that's not what I meant."

"Yes, it is. You're implying that I belong with him? Back in Ithaca?"

"You don't owe me any explanations Sara."

Ironic, she thought. "Don't tell me what I owe you Michael….because you really have no idea" she choked out.

"It's not hard to imagine someone else falling in love with you, Sara." He said. "If I am being perfectly honest with myself, it was inevitable…under any circumstance."

She looked at him quizzically. "What about me falling in love with someone else?"

"As much as it hurts ( _like hell_ ), that doesn't seem impossible either"

"I didn't" …. "Michael…..I couldn't. Even if I tried. I never loved him." She said with finality. "Or anyone else."

"And I left him." she muttered under her breath.

"You left your husband?" He said incredulously. "Why?"

"I can't believe you're asking me that." she protested. "I'm here because I'm yours Michael. If you're alive, I belong here…..with you."

She placed her head on his chest.

"I haven't told you anything about the last 7 years." He whispered

"Michael…. I'll listen if it helps you to talk about it but…..I… I don't need to know. I don't need answers. I wasted a lot of precious time waiting for answers from you back in Fox River. We'll never get that time back"

She looked up at him, "The truth is, years ago I watched you struggle everyday to do the best you could for everyone around you when we tried to take down the company. You sacrificed your own health…..and you made it about everyone else but yourself so, I know that there must be a damned good explanation for all of this. And I really don't care to know what it is. I am just so thankful that you're alive." She pulled him closer.

He looked down into her eyes and saw all of the love he didn't deserve there. She gave him a self-conscious smile and he reached down to kiss her…..as passionately as he could….seven years' worth…. as he held her face, and touched her lips. Afterwards they just sat there facing each other, foreheads touching, arms around each other's shoulders; much like their reunion after Sona. He couldn't believe he was with her again. Was it possible that she had grown more beautiful in the last 7 years? He wanted so badly to tell her that but he knew that Sara never relished that kind of attention. Sara too was concerned about Michael. Now that he was back, how could she protect him from the truth about the last 7 years of _her_ life? With time he would discover the gaping hole he

had left in her heart. The emptiness and despair. Hopeless days and sleepless nights. He didn't need to know those details tonight. The only thing he needed to know was that she loved him still. So desperately.

"I am so sorry for what you've been through." She whispered.


End file.
